Tata Power ties up with Norway firm

India’s oldest business conglomerate, the Tatas, are taking up hydro power generation in a big way, a century after the group had pioneered in setting up Tata Hydro-Electric Power Supply Company in 1910 to light up Mumbai.

                           Tata Power Company (TPC) has signed an exclusive joint venture agreement with a Norwegian hydro power major, SN Power, to jointly develop 2,000 Mw of projects in India and Nepal under construction or in operation by 2015 and a total of 4,000 Mw by 2020.

This will entail an investment of about Rs 15,000 crore, if calculated at a rate of Rs 5-8 crore per Mw of power generation.
                            
                                In addition to partnering on new project developments, Tata Power and SN Power are also considering co-developing the Tamakoshi-3 project in Nepal, to which SN Power holds licence rights. Each joint project, most yet to be finalised, will be developed through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) structure.
                           
                                                                 For SPVs in Nepal, SN Power will hold 50 per cent of the total issued and paid up capital, plus one equity share; it would be vice versa by Tata Power for projects in India. Both companies will have equal say in all matters across all SPVs and may rope in other strategic joint partners such as local governments or project developers, said Tata Power’s executive director, S Ramakrishnan.
The joint venture plans to raise funds from international lenders such as International Finance Corporation.